UK push for agricultural science

The important role agricultural science plays in feeding the world has been emphasised in a new publication in the UK, and coincides with a strong push to encourage more students into the sector.

The publication,
The Bioscience Behind Secure Harvests, has been produced by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), which funds research in the UK (including at ENDURE partner Rothamsted Research).

BBSRC invests around £78m (€80m) in plant and crop science research at universities and institutes across the UK and says the need to grow enough high quality, nutritious crops to ensure food security poses a significant scientific challenge.

The UK's National Farmers' Union is staging nationwide seminars in the search for the next generation of agricultural scientists. Copyright: NFU, UK.

The booklet highlights key BBSRC-supported research into achieving global food security, including the crop protection work being done at Rothamsted. This includes research into the lifecycle and biology of pests and disease-causing organisms, which is underpinning several online forecasting services that provide growers with frequent updates on when an outbreak is likely in their region.

This will allow growers to prepare controls against phoma stem canker (blackleg), for example, a fungal infection affecting oilseed rape. Phoma stem canker causes major crop losses in epidemic years and is predicted to increase in severity in the UK because of climate change.

The UK is also seeing a determined push by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) to encourage more funding for agricultural research and to attract students into agricultural science. The NFU’s
Why Science Matters campaign was launched last year and is now getting into full swing with a series of seminars being held at universities across England.

“We want to engage with the next generation of agricultural scientists, particularly in applied research, as the pool of experts is diminishing at a worrying rate,” said Dr Helen Ferrier, the NFU’s chief science and regulatory affairs adviser. “Farming is a high-tech industry and it’s important that we can try and communicate this message to students in further education who are studying subjects like agriculture, science and engineering and who want to work in an industry that will use their skills.

“We also have to try and compete against the likes of the pharmaceutical, automotive and information technology industries for the wealth of talent and enthusiasm that’s out there.”

“I want to see a reversal of the trend of under-investment in agricultural research and development that we’ve seen over the past two decades,” added Paul Temple, NFU vice president. “The agricultural research and extension community needs to receive the right signals to do the science and translate it into practice on the ground.”